US,NorwaytoInspectRussia'sAirSpace

A group of US and Norwegian aviation inspectors plan to fly over Russia's and Belarus' territory this week under The Treaty on Open Skies, acting head of the Defense Ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center told journalists Sunday.

MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - A group of US and Norwegian aviation inspectors plan to fly over Russia's and Belarus' territory this week under The Treaty on Open Skies, acting head of the Defense Ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center told journalists Sunday.

"Between August 25 and August 30 of this year, as part of The Treaty on Open Skies, a joint mission of the United States and Norway will conduct a flight over the territory of a group of member-states [Belarus and Russia] on board an American OC-135B observation aircraft," Ruslan Shishin said.

"During the flight along the agreed course, Russian and Belarusian experts on board the plane will control the compliance with the strict agreed flight parameters and the use of the surveillance equipment identified in the Treaty," he said.

The Boeing OC-135B Open Skies flies unarmed observation flights over the territories of the members of the Treaty.

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed on March 24, 1992, in Helsinki and currently applies to 34 countries. It came into force a decade later and established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the entire territories of its participants.

The Treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants a direct role in gathering information about areas of concern to them. During the observation flights, the aircrafts fitted with sensors and cameras collect image data that can be shared among all signatories to support the monitoring of compliance with existing or future arms control treaties.